Desert Bus for Hope: Playing the worst game in the world, for charity [w/video]

Desert Bus is one of the worst video games of all time. Actually, Desert Bus is an intentionally awful mini-game that was part of a never-released Sega CD game called Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. (We won't go into detail about Smoke and Mirrors here, but suffice it to say that it is one of the most interesting concepts for a video game that we've ever heard of, and is well worth the time it takes to read the full Wikipedia entry, here.)

The goal of Desert Bus is decidedly simple and completely horrible: the player drives a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, on road that is completely straight, in real time and at a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour. That endeavor takes eight hours of continuous play to accomplish since the game cannot be paused. And, though the road is perfectly straight, the bus is programed to pull ever so slightly to the right, meaning that the player must pay constant attention or crash the bus. Oh, and if you should crash the bus, you'll find yourself being towed back home, also in real time. Great game, right?

Back in 2007, Canadian comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun thought that the duller-than-dirt game would make a perfect vehicle (heh) for raising money for the charity Child's Play. (Child's Play donates toys and games for use by sick kids in hospitals around the world.) The premise was simple: the more money that was donated for the kids, the longer the funny men would be forced to drive the bus. In that first year, Desert Bus for Hope raised some $22,805 for Child's Play, while last year the amount had skyrocketed to more than $376k.

This year, the bus is going back on the road, with hopes for yet another record-breaking charity haul. Check out the official website, and get in on the good cause before the boys head out for Vegas, on November 16. Oh, and for a little taste of the, err, action, scroll down and watch the video.

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